Efforts launched to protect Peru's 'forgotten' forests

13-03-2006

Unless the international conservation community moves quickly, species will continue to become extinct in the "forgotten" forests of the Tumbesian region of northern Peru, BirdLife warns today.

In flower, these deciduous dry forests once blazed a broad arc of yellows and reds from south-western Ecuador southward along the Peruvian coast to Huacho and inland to Catamayo. Today, less than 7% of original cover remains. As a result, many species are relegated to isolated and fragmented forest patches, often in remote and inaccessible areas. Of the more than 800 bird species recorded in these forests, 82 are found nowhere else on Earth and of these endemic species, eight are considered at extreme risk of extinction.

Seven of the affected species are classified by BirdLife for the IUCN Red List as Endangered. These are the Grey-cheeked Parakeet Brotogeris pyrrhopterus, Blackish-headed Spinetail Synallaxis tithys, Slaty Becard Pachyramphus spodiurus, Peruvian Plantcutter Phytotoma raimondii, Long-whiskered Owlet Xenoglaux loweryi, Ochre-fronted Antpitta Grallaricula ochraceifrons and the Marvellous Spatuletail Loddigesia mirabilis. The White-winged Guan Penelope albipennis is classified as Critically Endangered, the highest risk category.

David Thomas/BirdLife

Dry forest habitat in the Tumbesian region
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"Enigmatic species like the endangered Marvellous Spatuletail, a hummingbird species whose pendulum-like tail feathers have attracted thousands of bird watchers from around the world, and the critically endangered and much hunted White-winged Guan, are just two of eight globally threatened birds that may disappear in our lifetime." —Dr. Amiro Perez, BirdLife's project leader in the region

In 2004, BirdLife International and Conservation International joined forces and mapped 33 globally Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in northern Peru as part of a massive inventory of 430 sites throughout Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia – an area referred to by Conservation International as the "Tropical Andes Hotspot".

Recognising the global importance of the dry and humid forests of northern Peru and the urgency of the situation, in 2004 the British Bird Watching Fair (Birdfair) raised an initial $300,000 to support immediate on-the-ground conservation action aimed at supporting the conservation of eight of the most critical IBAs previously identified.

Together with a number of national and international non-governmental organisations, BirdLife will support a variety of pilot projects ranging from the re-introduction of the White-winged Guan into Chaparri and Laquipampa (where it had been extirpated), habitat restoration in Pomacochas (one of the few sites in the world for the Marvelous Spatuletail), and the construction of an interpretative centre to raise local awareness of the Long-whiskered Owlet (one of the rarest and most secretive owls in the Americas).

Local community engagement and support is critical to the project's success. So to address the needs of communities in and adjacent to the IBAs, BirdLife with support from the Birdfair, has created a fund to support activities that promote alternative practices that are less harmful to the habitat and species of these sites.